Ok , so I bought a TV tuner card which is WinTV - HVR 950Q
It works fine when plugged into the coaxial cable directly.

But I then wanted to get the comcast channels so I thought I could plug the setop box and from their plug the setop box into the tv tuner.

But this did not work. This would suck if I can only get the limited channels and not the comcast channels , hbo ,...etc that I payed for to go thru my tv tuner to my computer.

Also the tv tuner card comes with RCA ywr composite connectors.
So I thought I could use these to connect my HD dvd to my tv tuner.
So I could watch my moives thru my tuner. If this is possible then what channel do I have to have on so that it takes the image from my HD dvd?

When I have my HD dvd hooked up to my TV all I have to do is hit the game button on my TV remote to switch the TV to take the image from the DVD player. I am wondering what the equvialent for the tuner card would be????

Hopeful I can watch HD dvd thru my tv tuner and if I cann't I should at least beable to watch all the TV channels thru my tuner that I have payed for.

SO the question is how do I hookup the setop box to my tv tuner to get this ?

Also I am curious How many TV channels can be supported thru coaxial cable minus the internet downstream/upstream channels , voip channels , and internet radio channels?
And how many channels are currently being broadcasted to the amount that can be supported?

Thanks for any input

 

Depends on the exact nature of the cable channels. The comcast I knew was trying to go digital channels, which is something entirely different than any standard out there, you had to use their cable box to decode it. Incidently, this also allowed them to track your viewing habits.

With digital the number of channels is so large that it might as well be limitless (1000 channels of crap). With analog you have the 12 base channels, plus 59 or so possible UHF channels, but only a fraction of them will ever be used.

Have you tried connecting an older TV to this coax, to see if there are the older analog channels present?

 

Well my tv tuner say's it can do ATSC , NTSC , analog TV , and QAM digital cable TV. I would think comcast would be broadcasting in one of these? So then my question is can I hookup the tuner to the comcast set-top box in some way to get all my channels to go thru the tuner to the computer?

As for the picture of the tuner you may see those rca connectors connected to it what are these for. Because I was initially trying to connect my tuner to my hd dvd to watch movies from my hd dvd player thru my tuner to the computer? But I cann't find what channel or how to get the tuner/wintv7 software to display my hd dvd players movie image?

As for the channels in digital or analog. Why with digital can we have much more channels (same bandwidth on a coaxial cable)?

I am also wondering after a settop box decrypts/tunes into the tv station
It has to send the channel to a regular TV set. How does it do that if the TV's tuner doesn't tune into the high frequency station that the set-top box has???
Does it remap it to a channel in the 2-62 or something.
Very curious!

 

It can only decode clear QAM not encrypted digital cable.

 

If you connect it to the TV port of your Comcast receiver and set your WinTV unit to eight Chan 3 or 4 (Whichever your Comcast unit sends to the TV, it should work for you. Otherwise, you can use the Audio and Video RCA connections to connect to the back of your Comcast receiver (assuming it has them) Then your PC can act as a VCR

 

What I was thinking is connecting a standard TV to it as a test, to prove out the computer accessory. You could also connect your device to the output of a VCR to recieve channel 3.

 

It can only decode clear QAM not encrypted digital cable.

Ya , but if you run the tv tuner to the output coaxial port on the set-top box it should beable to get all the channels. Since I thought part of the job of the set-box was to decrypt/tune into the high frequency channels that a standard tv cann't ,...etc ? The set-top box does have the rca composite holes on it but I don't think this would make much difference.
I will try it anyway.

encrypted digital cable isn't this just encrypted QAM and with the set-top box decrypting it this would be decrypted QAM should work?

As for the rca composite/s-video connectors can these be used to go to an hd dvd or are they only useable to connect a set-top box to the tv tuner ( I know physically they can connect but will winTV 7 allow you to display it)? This seems like you should beable to display your hd dvd players image thru to the computer. I have tried channel 4 but that didn't work?

If you connect it to the TV port of your Comcast receiver and set your WinTV unit to eight Chan 3 or 4 (Whichever your Comcast unit sends to the TV, it should work for you. Otherwise, you can use the Audio and Video RCA connections to connect to the back of your Comcast receiver (assuming it has them) Then your PC can act as a VCR

So does a set-box usually remap the channels /( modulate the high frequency channels that a standard tv cann't tune into down to a channel like 3 or 4 that a standard tv can tune into ? Curious to know this.

My set-top box and any tv I plug it into works fine so it's not the set-top box or tv issue.

 

Most set top boxes are tuner/converter combination units. They tune the specialized signals sent by the program carrier (Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, etc) and convert it to either channel 3 or 4. Usually the 3 or 4 is switch selectable to avoid potential interference with a local channel. Your TV would be set to 3 or 4 and left there. Channel tuning would be done through the set top box. Likewise, your WinTV unit would be set to 3 or 4 and left there. As for the HD aspect, I have no idea. The unit I have was from a time before HD and DigitalTV even existed. It's tough being an antique!